


System Instability Up or Down

by RikkuRafiki



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Do Overs, F/M, Female hank, Fluff, Genderbending, Hurt/Comfort, More Chapters to Be Added, My tags weren't working before, Omniscient intervention if that makes sense, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Player trys again, You'll see when I get there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-26 23:12:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15011477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikkuRafiki/pseuds/RikkuRafiki
Summary: Connor is an android sent by CyberLife to assist Lt. Helen Anderson of the Detroit police in her investigations involving devient androids. Can working with Connor diffuse the misplace hatred Helen has for androids? Can working with Anderson unlock something inside Connor that he refuses to acknowledge? Can they find something more in each other? All this and more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thought I'd try a Hank genderbend and cause I haven't seen anyone try that. Also I have plans for that girl.

                                Partners

The rain poured over Connor as he stepped up the the fifth bar he came across to that night. The probability that Lt. Anderson was going to be here was 77%. Connor ran the statistics through his head as he tossed his quarter back and forth. It was his first priority to find Anderson as CyberLife had ordered him to assist the Detroit police in their investigations in the increased number of deviant androids. It just so happen that Lt. Anderson was the officer put o yo the case. It was a huge concern to CyberLife that something was wrong with their androids and he needed to figure out what was causing the problem and fix it before it became a wide spread epidemic among the androids. 

He pocketed the quarter and walked up to the bar. There was a red sign that stated androids were not allowed inside. This warning interfered with his mission so he ignored it. He pushed the handle and and stepped inside. Some people turned to look as he came in, muttering under their breath of the blatant violation of the sign outside. Connor ignored their murmurs and scanned the room. Most of the patrons had no criminal records. There was one man that had a domestic violence charge and another that had a D.U.I., but that was the existent of it.

Connor spotted the only woman in the room. She was wearing a worn black jacket that was fading to a dingy brown, her graying hair was messily covering her face as she looked down at the drink she was nursing. Connor did a scan on her and confirmed that she was indeed Lt. Anderson. He walked up to her and bent over the bar a little to get a better look at her face. Despite the graying hairs, that were attributed to high stress over a long period of time, Anderson was not that old. Connor’s scan showed that she was in her late 30's. If she adopted a healthier lifestyle, i.e. not drink so much and eat unhealthy, she might live to her late 80’s. His scan also showed that she wasn’t completely out of shape despite her habits.

“Lt. Anderson, My name is Connor. I’m the android sent by Cyberlife to assist you. Earlier this evening you were assigned a case, homicide. I went to look for you at the precinct, but you weren’t there. They said that you might be having a drink nearby, I was lucky I found you at the fifth bar.”

Anderson looked up at Connor through the strands of her hair. Though she could barely see him she scoffed at the way he looked. “I don’t need no android assistant, so you can be a good little plastic boy and go fuck off.” Anderson dismissed him with a careless hand wave before taking another swing of her drink.

Connor took a slight step closer. “Look I understand that some people are uncomfortable around androids but I -“

“I am perfectly comfortable around androids!” Anderson cut him off. “Please could you leave me the alone.”

Connor registered that he was starting to piss Anderson off.  He ran through scenarios on what to say next. If he threaten her this would only piss her off greatly. If he reasoned with her she was likely to come around, a 32% probability. He determined that his next course of action should be to reason with her. Adopting a sympathetic tone, Connor leaned a bit closer to her. “Lieutenant I think you should stop drinking and come with me, it will make life better for the both of us.”

Anderson took another swig of her drink. “You know what I think, I think you should mind your own business. If you care about the case so much, why don’t you just head to the crime scene without me.”

Connor wasn’t getting anywhere at this rate. He ran a series of events that could happen depending on what he decided to do or say next. It was at this point that he chose to play to her better nature. The statistics showed that if he spilled the rest of her drink and forced her to come with him, she would become 100% hostile and threaten to break him. That would not be good for her because the damages would be costly and it wouldn’t be good for him because he would be out of the case for immediate repair. Although he could express the fact that damaging him would not help either of them, and ultimately convince her to go with him to the crime scene, this path was not best. Alternatively, he could always just wait for Anderson outside until she was ready, but it was hard to tell how long she would actually take and they needed to head to the crime scene.

“You know what Lieutenant how about I buy you one for the road and then maybe we can head to the crime scene.” Connor placed an appropriate bill on the bar. “Bar keep, more of the same please.”

It was at this point that Anderson decided to actually look at Connor. For a moment she was taken aback. He was quite handsome for an android, although it wasn’t as if they didn’t make androids pleasant to look at. Some how he was different, she had never seen a model like him before. She let the brief moment pass before addressing the bar keep. “Look at that Jimmy, the wonders of technology. Well you heard the thing, might as well make it a double.”

As the barkeep poured another drink for Anderson, Conner determined that this course of action was the correct one. He smiled slightly to himself as he noted her body language. Her shoulders were no longer tense and the annoyed scrunch of her brow had faded. She was far from being his friend, but at least she let his friendly attitude warm her. 

Anderson finished her drink and set the glass down on the bar. She turned towards Connor with and amused look. “So you said homicide?”

Connor nodded slightly. “That I did.”

“Alright.” Anderson slid off her bar stool and caught her balance for a moment as she waited for her legs to remember what standing was. Her back was a bit stiff from hunching over her drink for so long and her legs started to feel numb as the blood started to flow normally into them.

“Lieutenant are you alright to drive? I’m detecting that your blood alcohol is .05, thought this is below the legal limit, I must insist that maybe we should take the bus or a cab to the crime scene.”

Anderson was already making her way to the door of the bar, ignoring Connor when he put in his two cents. She opened the door and stepped outside into the rain. The cold droplets felt good on the alcoholic flush that was forming under her skin. Anderson looked around the parking lot a bit, trying to remember where she parked her car. Connor stepped up beside her. Anderson turned her head to a dress him. “Listen, Connor? If you are going to accompany me to the crime scene, we have to do things my way. I’m fine so get in the car.” Anderson finally spotted her car tucked in the corner of the parking lot, as far away from any other car as possible.

Connor walked up to the passenger side door and scanned the car. His scan showed that the car was 15 years old, the oil had just been changed a week ago, it was due for a smog check, and the the front axel was a bit off, but not enough to warrant a fix. All in all, Anderson took good care of her car, despite it being out dated. Connor pulled the door open and got inside. “Lieutenant, why do you choose to use this archaic mode of transportation? You know that new cars are equip with several safety features, you need not worry about getting into an accident or even driving for that matter.”

Anderson glared at Connor as she buckled her seat belt. “I’m well aware of all the safety features of new cars, but this is my car and I like it.” The engine turned over as the car came to life. Anderson peeled out of the parking lot and barreled down the road.

“Lieutenant I really think you should slow down. My scan showed that your tires are not well suited to this kind of driving in the rain.” Anderson turned on the radio and ignored him. Connor registered irritation across her face. “You really shouldn’t listen to your music so loudly either. You might not hear an on coming car.” This comment cause Anderson to turn the music up louder. It was at this point that further pressing would cause her to become cold toward him again. Connor thought it best to keep her on even terms with him. 

For the rest of the ride to the crime scene Connor stared at Anderson as she drove. He registered the change of her emotions, going from annoyed to relaxed to irritated. The more he stared at her, it seemed the harder she tried to focus on the road. Eventually they got to the crime scene and Anderson turned off the car. “You stay here, I won’t be long.”

Connor had ran through a course of action to take here. He could be firm with her, stating that he was going to go regardless of what she said. That would only lead to a negative attitude towards him though. He could be patient and actually listen to her, but this would only contradict his orders from CyberLife. Connor opted for a response that would hopefully increase her attitude towards him. “I really think that I should go with you. We are after all partners on this case.” Diplomacy seemed like the best choice. 

Anderson gave Connor a look that registered as non hostile and her attitude increased slightly, but she shook her head anyway. “No, wait in the car.” 

Connor watched as Anderson got out and walk towards the house. Her orders contradicted with the orders that CyberLife gave him, so he opted to ignore her command and follow his orders from CyberLife. Connor got out of the car and followed Anderson up to the house where he was stopped at the yellow tape by a police android. “No androids beyond this point.”

Anderson looked back to see Connor standing there staring at her. “Its with me!” Connor registered the annoyance on her face, though her attitude did not change. As Connor walked through the tape and up to Anderson, she turned towards him fully. “What part of stay in the car don’t you understand?”

“I’m sorry Lieutenant, but your orders contradicted with my orders from CyberLife.”

Connor tiled his head when he spoke so matter a factly. Anderson tried to keep her expression displeased. “Look don’t touch anything and stay out of my way.”

Connor gave her a slight nod before a rotund older man stepped out of the house holding a black light flash light. “Helen, we were starting to think you weren’t gonna make it.”

Connor did a scan on the man and found out that he was detective Ben Collins from the police department.  He addressed Anderson by her first name, so they must have known each other for years and have become good friends. 

“Well that was the plan before this asshole showed up.” Anderson motioned towards Connor. To this he had nothing to say. It was true that if he hadn’t found her, she would still be at the bar drowning herself in her drink. 

“Well look at that, Anderson got herself an android.” The man joked as they started towards the inside of the house.

“Ha ha very funny. Can we get this over with?” The three of them walked inside where they were given a briefing on the situation. Collins commented on the stench and even Anderson had to put her hand over her nose as to not breath so deeply. Connor could detect the lingering smell of decay in the air.

Despite the fact that Anderson told him not to touch anything, it was against his CyberLife orders to do so. While trying to stay out of the way, Connor went about examining the clues. He went to the kitchen first as Anderson was in the middle of examining the body in the living room. He scanned the room, noting the bloody hand prints on the walls, the finger prints on the chair, the missing knife from the knife rack on the wall. They mentioned that the front door was locked when the body was found, so they suspect that the deviant went out the back. Connor went over to the back door and opened it, scanning the soil composition of the back yard.

Anderson stepped up beside him. “They think that the deviant escaped this way.”

Connor shook his head. “No, the only tracks out here are the ones that belong to detective Collins size ten shoes.”

Anderson crossed her arms. “Well this happened weeks ago, the tracks have probably faded.”

Connor turned towards her. “No, this type of soil will retain a foot print. The deviant didn’t come this way.” With that he went back into the house. Anderson made a thoughtful sound before following him.

Now that Anderson wasn’t in the living room, that gave Connor the opportunity to examine the body. He did a scan of the room, noting the bat on the floor, the bloody knife not that far from it, the lack of fingerprints on said knife, the number of stab wounds in the body, the traces of red ice on the victim’s lips, the blood on the victim’s hand and the writing on the wall in the victim’s blood, done in Cybercript. Connor knelt down by the knife and touched the blood on the blade, though it was old and congealed, he was able to get a bit on his fingers. He brought those fingers to his lips and parted them so he could dab his tongue on them.

“God Connor what the hell are you doing!” Anderson was looking down at him with disgust.

Connor looked up at her and then down at his fingers as if what he just did wasn’t at all odd or disgusting. “I have a biometric scanner on the inside of my mouth. I have the ability to scan substances in real time, breaking them down to their exact chemical composition.”

“I don’t care what the hell you can do, don’t do it again. It’s fucking gross.” Anderson went into the kitchen to get away from him.

Connor registered that the interaction just now, though unfavorable, didn’t change Anderson’s attitude towards him. Connor continued examining the evidence. Finally he was able to piece together the clues on what happened. Anderson was leaning against the wall looking fifty shades of bored and over it. She was on the verge of calling it when Connor stepped up to her. 

“Lieutenant, I believe I know what happened here.” 

Anderson stopped leaning against the wall and looked at him with what Connor registered as skepticism. “Alright, what cha got?”

“I believe it all started in the kitchen. The deviant was in here for whatever reason when the victim came in and started beating it with the bat.” The two of them walked into the kitchen as Connor was explaining.

“That lines up with the evidence. What happened next.”

Connor pointed to the knife rack. “As the victim was beating the deviant it fell onto the counter were it was within reach of the knife rack.”

“So the deviant used the knife in self defense?”

“Correct.”

“That seems about right. Go on.”

Connor moved through the kitchen towards the living room as he continued. “The victim was caught by surprise by this retaliation from the deviant. In an attempt to get away, the victim threw the chair in the way, but the deviant was relentless. It chased the victim out of the kitchen where it stabbed him here the first time.” Connor pointed to a spot on the floor where drops of blood were. “The victim continued to get away, but tripped here where he ultimately fell against the wall. It was here that the deviant fell upon him and stabbed him 28 times.”

Anderson had a thoughtful look on her face. “Ok so your explanation is not complete bullshit. I just have one problem. If the deviant didn’t escape through the back like we think, where did it go?”

If Connor was at all capable of such a thing, he gave Anderson a serious look. “I believe it may still be in the house.”

Anderson gave him a skeptical look. “Oh really, then why haven’t we seen it?”

“Because you haven’t looked hard enough. See the victim attached the deviant, so it was damaged, leaking Thirium.”

Anderson arched her eyebrow in curiosity. "Thirium?"

"You call it blue blood. After a while it becomes invisible to the naked eye."

Now Anderson was catching on to what Connor was trying to say. "Oh, but I bet you can still see it huh?"

"Correct. May I?" Anderson spread her arm in a “be my guest” manner. 

Connor went down the hall to the one room he hadn’t checked the first time he looked around the house for clues, the bathroom. There the shower curtain was closed. He walked up and pulled them to the side. On the wall was written in an obsessive compulsive manner the same letters over and over, ra9. Connor looked down at what looked to be an offering or effigy of some kind on the floor of the shower. There was no need to examine this spot farther as there was no where in this small room for the deviant to hide. As Connor turned to leave the room, he noticed a faint outline of what looked like a ladder on the  floor on the wall in the hallway. Connor stepped out into the hallway and scanned the area, as he suspected there was a Thirium handprint on the small square door leading into the attic. 

Connor walked into the kitchen and grabbed the other chair that hadn’t been knocked over. “What are you doing with that?” Anderson asked as she was standing around not quite helping search.

“I just need to check something.” Connor took the chair to the spot under the square door as Anderson mumbled under her breath about him needing to check something and that this little hunt was stupid cause all evidence points to the deviant having left through the back.

Connor stepped up onto the chair and slid the square door to the side. There was a closed curtain with light being cast on it from behind. The light was coming from a window in the back of the attic.  Behind the curtain was a silhouette of a humanoid figure. Connor climbed the rest of the way into the attic, being cautious as he slowly moved towards the curtain. With a swift tug, he threw open the curtain to reveal a mannequin. Connor moved past this and farther into the attic. He was sure that the deviant was still there, having ran a statistic on the possibility, giving him a 98% chance. The other two percent was the possibility that the deviant went out through the window, but that was a slim possibility. As he made his way closer to the back, something moved to the other side, pushing a chair in the process. Now Connor was 100% sure that the deviant was still there. As he moved around the chair and into the light, the deviant came out of hiding. Whatever it had planned to do in that moment had not come to pass. The deviant was covered in blood and Thirium. The LED in its temple a stressful red.

“Please. I didn’t want any of this. I was only defending myself." The deviant pleaded with Connor. Perhaps it thought that because he was an android too, he would sympathize. “Please don’t tell them I’m here. Please.”

Connor looked at the deviant for what felt like far too long. His processor running through all the courses of action he could take. If he did as the deviant had asked, he would fail his mission and perhaps Anderson would have a negative attitude towards him. In the end Connor opted to follow his programming. “Lieutenant, it’s here!” Connor could hear Anderson curse and call for some people to help get the deviant. There was no fight or flight left in the deviant, so it came along quietly. Connor grabbed it by the shoulder and lead it out of the attic. 

There were three officers there to take the deviant away. Connor dropped down from the attic and landed on the chair. “I have to hand it to you Connor, I really didn’t think that it was actually still here.” Anderson gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“There was a possibility that the deviant escaped from a window I saw in the back of the attic, but I ran the statistics and it was only a 2% chance.”

“Oh shit, I didn’t even know there was a window in the attic. Well anyway good work.”

“I alway succeed Lieutenant, I’m not programmed to fail.” The look that Anderson gave him told him that maybe that was not an appropriate thing to say.

“You know when someone congratulates you on a job well done, you say thank you. You don’t act like a smug prick.”

Connor registered a slight negative attitude towards him. That was not what he had planned. He ran through what his next action should be to rectify the situation. He could say nothing in which case Anderson’s attitude would neither rise nor fall, he could explain that he is the most state of the art android produced to date and that it was literally not within his programming to fail and even if he had, he would be sent back to CyberLife to be fixed or be deactivated for being defective and a new RK800 would take his place, or lastly he could apologize, giving him a 57% chance that Anderson’s attitude would increase. He determined that apologizing would be the best course of action. “I’m sorry Lieutenant.”

Anderson looked at Connor with a bit of surprise. She hadn’t expected him to actually apologize. She shrugged it off and waved him on. “Whatever. We need to head back to the precinct to interrogate the thing. Let’s go.”

Connor registered that his apology had worked and Anderson’s attitude towards him had increased slightly. This course of action had fixed his previous action, bringing their relationship back to where it was before his mistake of wording. There was a long road ahead of them if they were ever going to be on good standing. Connor made it a sub mission of his to get on Anderson’s good side. A mission like his current one with the deviants, he was determined not to fail.


	2. Interrogation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added some extra.

                            Interrogation

 

The drive back to the precinct was not as wild and reckless as the drive to the crime scene. The rain hadn’t let up, but that was no concern to Connor either way. Connor registered that Anderson’s body temperature was a bit low and that she had a slight shiver. It wasn’t as if they had been standing out in the rain, but her alcohol consumption had compromised her bodies’ homeostasis. After the alcoholic flush had passed, her temperature had dropped significantly. It would do Connor no good if Anderson got sick while on the case. “The weather forecast shows that the weather is not going to get better as the week progresses. Maybe you should wear thicker clothing in the future and carry an umbrella.” 

 

Anderson looked at him from the side of her eye. “Are you my mother?”

 

“I’m only looking out for your well being Lieutenant.”

 

Anderson rolled her eyes. “As if you really care. You need me to be here so you can do what CyberLife ordered you to do. If I got sick and went home, you’d be shit out of a partner.” She looked at him for a moment to see if he had anything to say, but Connor stayed quiet. Anderson scoffed. “Yeah that’s what I thought.”

 

Connor looked at the road ahead of them. She wasn’t wrong, in fact she had hit the nail on the head, but Connor couldn’t find a scenario that would end on a good note. By staying quiet and saying nothing, Anderson’s attitude would stay the same. 

 

When they got to the precinct, Anderson had parked her car haphazardly. It was clear that she was eager to get the night over with and didn’t care that her car was parked incorrectly. Connor said nothing to this and followed her inside. The police that had taken the deviant away had already arrived before them and had the deviant in the interrogation room cuffed to the table. Gavin along with another police officer were in the viewing room next to the interrogation room looking at the deviant through a two way mirror.

 

“So nice of you to finally join us.” Gavin was leaning over the case file on the table next to the other officer, talking to him when Anderson and Connor came into the room. 

 

“I hope you didn’t do anything to the android that I wouldn’t.” Anderson said as she grabbed the case file off the table.

 

“Oh of course not Lieutenant, but if I had actually done something you would do, I would have made it my little pet.” Gavin gave Anderson a smug smile.

 

Anderson sighed heavily. “It’s not my pet. I’m forced to work with it.” That last part she said with a bit of disdain. Something flickered across Connor’s processor, but it passed by before he could place it.

 

“Whatever you tell yourself to help you sleep at night.” Gavin turned to Connor and stepped up to him threateningly, trying to assert his dominance over him. “Cause that’s what you do right? Help her sleep at night?”

 

“That’s enough Gavin.” Anderson put her hand between them. Even though Connor had not shown any indication that he would try to do anything to Gavin, she didn’t want to run that chance. “Leave it alone while I go interrogate the deviant.”

 

Gavin took a step back with his hands up in a non threatening way. “Sure Lieutenant. It’s not as if it was gonna do anything anyway.”

 

Anderson gave him a hard look. “I’d still rather you didn’t provoke it. It might turn deviant and then where would we be?”

 

Connor turned towards Anderson. “I assure you Lieutenant, you need not worry about me turning deviant. It’s not within my programming.”

 

Gavin scoffed. “Yeah, that’s what they said about the other androids, yet here we are.”

 

“Alright well regardless, just keep your distance from each other.” Anderson took the case file and went into the next room with the deviant. 

 

Gavin gave Connor one more look before leaning on the side wall with his arms crossed. Connor chose to stand behind the other officer, slightly to the left, closest to the door. It was not as if he was afraid of Gavin, but it wouldn’t help his mission to provoke the man. He hyper focused on Anderson as she sat across from the  deviant, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She laced her fingers together in front of her on the table. Taking a deep breath, she spoke. 

 

“Why did you kill him?” The deviant had its head down. “What happened before you got the knife?” The deviant still didn’t move or speak. 

 

Anderson turned her head to look at the two way mirror. For a split second Connor was caught by surprise. It was almost as if she turned to look at him, like she could feel his eyes on her. He blinked a few times and made a quick glance at Gavin. He wasn’t even looking in his direction. Connor ran a quick diagnostic on his processor to see what had mad him do that. Something had flit across his processor, but it was gone before he could make anything of it. He turned his attention back Anderson and the deviant, this time watching the deviant closely to see if he could catch anything that the humans couldn’t.

 

Anderson looked back at the deviant, her short fuse for patience burning quickly. “Ok, how long were you in the attic?” Nothing. “Why didn’t you even try to run away?” Still nothing. Anderson snapped her finger in front of the deviant to try and get its attention. No response. Anderson looked at the two way mirror once more. She wasn’t gonna get anything from them either. She turned back towards the deviant, fuse finally bunt out. She slammed her hands on the table. “Answer me goddamnit!” All her attempts met with nothing. Finally she gave up. “You know what fuck this shit.” Anderson got up, not really caring that she failed in interrogating the deviant and rejoined the others. “We’re wasting our time interrogating a machine, it’s not giving us anything.”

 

She sat down in the chair next to the other officer and crossed her arms. “We could always rough it up a little.” Everyone looked at Gavin. “After all it is a machine.”

 

Connor tilted his head, something about Gavin didn’t sit right with him, but it wasn’t important to the mission. “That wouldn’t work.” Now everyone was looking at Connor. “Androids don’t feel pain. You would only damage it. Besides, deviants have a tendency to self destruct if their stress levels get too high.”

 

Gavin scoffed. “Alright smart ass, what do you suggest we do?”

 

Connor looked towards the deviant in the other room. The likelihood of them getting anything out of it was 29% if they went with Gavin’s suggestion. The physical abuse would raise its stress level dramatically, but there was the possibility that it would lash out at them or even destroy itself without saying anything. If he spoke to the deviant, the probability rose to 87% without the chance of it self destructing or harming anyone else. There was always a chance that things could go bad, but he was their best bet. “I could talk to it.”

 

Gavin gave a dry laugh. “Yeah that’s rich.” He looked towards Anderson as she started to shack her head and shrug her shoulders, an action that Connor registered as acquiescent. “What do we have to loose.” Without any more prompting, Connor left to the other room.

 

Gaven went up to were Anderson was sitting. “You can’t be fucking serious? You honestly want that thing in there with it? What if they do some kind of android code with their LED’s? What if it helps it?”

 

Anderson looked up at Gavin. “Connor was the one that found it. If it was gonna help it out, it would have done it then. We didn’t know the deviant was in the attic and honestly, no one was gonna bother to check. So maybe it cans do something we can’t. You should sit down and shut up, you might actually learn something.”

 

Connor stepped into the room with the deviant. It hadn’t acknowledged his presence. Connor went over to the case file on the table and opened it, looking at the evidence that they had found at the crime scene. When he was done he took the seat across from the deviant. Connor did a scan on it. He noted the model of the android, the cigarette burns in its left arm, the gash of exposed wires and mechanical components in its right arm, the victim’s blood across its face and body, and its current stress level. Connor hoped to achieve an optimal level of stress in the deviant in order to obtain a confession without it become destructive.

 

“My scan shows that you have an instability in your program. It can trigger an unpleasant response, similar to fear in humans.” The deviant didn’t respond and Connor didn’t register a change in its stress level. “I see that you’re damaged. Did your owner do that? Did he hurt you?” There was an increase in stress to this comment. The deviant must have recalled all the times its owner abused it. “Up until this point you have refused to respond. If you don’t cooperate they will be forced to do things the hard way. I can’t say for sure if that’s something you want?” Another increase. The deviant was getting close. Connor needed to give it another push. “If you don’t talk to me I’m going to have to prob your memory and I know you don’t want that.”

 

Finally the deviant’s head shot up. “No, please don’t!” The deviant looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time before it settled its focus on the corner of the table. “What are they going to do to me?” The deviant looked at the two way mirror for a moment before looking back at Connor. “They are going to destroy me aren’t they?” It looked at him with an expression that Connor had only seen in humans, fear.

 

Connor could lie, but that would only lower the deviant’s stress level. He told the truth. “They are going to disassemble you to your bio components so they can figure out what happened.”

 

The deviant looked away as if trying to find something. “Why did you tell them where I was? Why couldn’t you have just left me alone?”

 

Connor could lie to the deviant to get it to trust him, but that didn’t really matter to him at this juncture. He opted to tell the truth. “It’s my job to hunt deviants like you.” This made the deviants stress increase. 

 

The deviant looked at Connor with pleading eyes. “I don’t want to die.”

 

Die, androids can’t die. Whatever was causing these androids to become deviant, was really messing with their system. To be so afraid, when fear was never an emotion they could process, let alone FEEL. Connor responded in his calm manner. “Than talk to me.”

 

The deviant hesitated. As if something was holding it back. Like the words if spoken were going to hurt it more than what had already been done. “I......I can’t.”

 

Connor had a very important decision to make here. How was he going to approach the situation? He could try to convince the deviant to tell him, but that would involve asking more questions and that could go either way. He could pressure it into telling him, but that could lead to the deviants stress level increasing without it confessing. The only sure fire way is to prob its memory. It stress level will sky rocket to dangerous levels, almost assuring that the deviant would become self-destructive, but Connor will have successfully extracted proof of its guilt.

 

Without the slightest bit of care, not that he had any for the deviant, Connor narrowed his eyes at it. “Than you leave me no choice.” Suddenly he grabbed the deviants arm and started to prob its memory. 

 

As the deviant struggled Connor was able to see the victim come at it with a bat. The image blurred to the next moment when the deviant had the knife and slashed at the victim. The imaged changed again to when the deviant chased the victim out of the kitchen and into the living room. Finally the images changed to the deviant over the victim stabbing him repeatedly. While all this was going on, Anderson had leaned forward in her seat as if trying to see what Connor was doing better. She whispered under her breath, “Holy shit.”

 

Connor let go of the deviant and turned to the two way mirror. “I got it. I’m done.” 

 

Gavin laughed to himself. “Well I guess that’s one way to do it.”

 

Connor got up from his seat and looked at the deviant with cold eyes. The deviant’s stress level was  at what would be considered its max and self destruction was inevitable. As Connor went to the door and opened it, the three officers stepped into the room. Just then the deviant started to bang its head on the table. 

 

“What the hell is it doing?” Anderson asked.

 

“It’s self destructing.” Connor said as he looked back at it.

 

Anderson pointed at the other officer that was with them. “Stop it.”

 

The officer went over to the deviant and tried to pull it away from the table. Connor knew that this was futile, but said nothing. “I can’t stop it.” The officer was fumbling to extract the keys to the cuffs attached to the table.

 

Anderson looked at Connor as of trying to tell him that he should do something. Connor ran through the possible outcomes. If he intervened, he could potentially stop the deviant, but that would put him at risk of being hurt, there was the possibility that the deviant could get a hold of the officer’s gun because it was easily within its reach. If he did nothing, the deviant will destroy itself, which was something that CyberLife was going to do anyway. He got the information that they wanted, so it didn’t matter to him what happened to the deviant. Connor just stared back at Anderson and did nothing. By the time the officer was able to release their keys it was to late.

 

The deviant stopped moving with its head down on the table, a pool of Thirium forming. Anderson turned to Connor. “What the hell Connor?”

 

“There was nothing to be done. We got what we needed from the deviant.” 

 

Gavin grabbed Connor by the lapels of his jacket. “You could have done something. You just stood there. What if there was more we could get out of it? Now we got nothing!” 

 

Anderson put her hand on Gavin’s arm and gave him a hard look. “That’s enough Reed. Let it go.”

 

Gavin shoved Connor away as he pushed past him out the room. Anderson looked at the deviant on the table and at Connor’s unmoved expression and just shook her head as she left the room. Connor quickly followed behind her. “So what do we do now Lieutenant?”

 

“No I go home. There is nothing more we can do.” Anderson rubbed the back of her neck. She turned to look at Connor. “You should probably upload whatever it is you extracted from the deviant to the database.” She paused for a bit like she was trying to figure out what to say next. “After that you are free to go...home?” Anderson grimaced. “Where do you go exactly?”

 

“I’ll go back to the CyberLife facility to send a report. I don’t necessarily have to go back there to do so, I could do it here, but I believe it’s best if I’m not here without you.” Connor started to walk past Anderson. “I’ll see you in the morning Lieutenant. Have a good night.” He gave her a polite smile before turning again and leaving.

 

Anderson felt something stir with within her. A warm fuzzy feeling so long forgotten. She cleared her throat and forced the feeling to subside. It was only when she caught a glimpse of Gavin out the corner of her eye in the break room the the feeling died all together. She started to walk towards him with purpose. Gavin was just as unhappy to see her as she was him. “Reed I need to talk to you about the android....”

                                          

                                        ***

 

Connor stepped into the CyberLife facility where he was greeted by familiar faces. There was a woman at the front desk. She had shocking red hair that stood out in the clean sterile lobby of the CyberLife building. Her eyes were a vibrant green and there was a light dusting of freckles on her lightly tanned skin. “Hey Connor your back. How did it go?”

 

“Hello Amy. My first case with the Lieutenant, could have been better, but I believe it could have been far worse. She is quite surly.” 

 

The woman quirked up. “Your partner is a woman? A female Lieutenant...” she mused about that as Connor walked pasted her desk to a door to the right. The doorway lead to a stairway that took him down to the repair and manufacturing facility of the building. 

 

There was a man in a lab coat sitting at a work table. His wild hair rivaled that of Connor’s well maintained mane, albeit, he had these stray strands. “Hello Peter.”

 

Peter cursed as he shocked himself on the arm he was repairing. He turned around and pushed his black rimmed glasses higher on his nose. “Connor you scared the shit out of me! I almost killed myself.”

 

“Peter I registered that the shock you sustained was only 500 volts, equal to that of a child’s prank toy. You were in no way in danger of death.” Connor walked up to Peter at his station. “I see that arm is still giving you trouble”

 

Peter sighed heavily. “I’m telling you Connor, if you could be like Inspector Gadget....”

 

“As I’ve told you before, having the ability to shoot bubbles out of my fingertips is impractical for my intended purpose.” Connor moved around to the other side of the table to get a better look at what Peter was doing. There was all manner of random items spread out. A lighter, circular saw, length of steel cable, springs, the aforementioned bubbles and so on.

 

“Hey if he could catch criminals with spring shoes, so can you.” Peter leaned back in his chair and eyed Connor. “Are you hurt?”

 

Connor looked up from his inspection of the  items. “No, I’m only here to send my report and wait for tomorrow. I thought it best not to stay at the police department without Lt. Anderson.”

 

Peter stopped leaning and got up. “So how is your new partner?” Peter made a circuit around Connor, examining him.

 

“She was hostile towards me at first, but I believe that after successfully apprehending  and interrogating the deviant, she has warmed to me.” Connor turned his head to look at Peter as he moved around him. “Peter, I assure you that I’m fine. Nothing happened with the deviant.”

 

“Yeah well the last time you encountered a deviant, you came back with a hole in your arm and a bullet lodged inside.” Peter stopped his circuit and looked Connor in the eyes. “Call me a worried mother.” He gestured to an empty examination table. “Could you do me a favor and take off your clothes and lie on the table.” Without complaint Connor started to oblige. He knew there was nothing wrong with him, but if it could put Peter at ease, he was willing to help. Halfway through getting undressed Peter put his hands to his eyes. “Connor please, could you shed your skin. I don’t need to see,” he made a circular hand motion towards the general area of Connor’s nether region, “all that.”

 

Connor tiled his head in a curious way. “You humans and your embarrassment towards the naked human body will always confuse me. If you didn’t want to see us naked, why make us so life like? Why give us skin?”

 

“Look I just make them how CyberLife tells me. I try not to ask those kinds of questions.”

 

Connor shed his skin and removed the rest of his clothing, placing them in a neat pile on one end of the table. “Are you intimidated by my form? Besides, everything is still there, regardless of skin.”

 

Peter stood beside Connor as he laid back. “First of all I’m not intimidated by you, so let’s not have a pissing contest. Second, it’s easier to examine you when I don’t have to think about how human you look. Try to put yourself in my shoes. I don’t have a problem with the naked body, but I don’t exactly want to spend everyday at work looking at a naked dude.” Peter lowered his voice as he started his examination. “Now maybe if you were one of those female androids....”

 

Connor registered an elevated heart rate and increased breathing in Peter. “Your excitement on the subject is interesting.”

 

Peter stopped for a moment to look Connor in the eyes. “You tell no one.” 

 

“Your secret is safe with me.” Connor resumed staring at the ceiling as Peter did his examination.

 

“Ok Connor you can sit up so I can check your back.” Connor sat up swinging his legs over the side of the table. “Hey Connor I have a question for you.” Connor turned his head towards Peter.

“Do you ever think about....you know?” Peter found it hard to look Connor in the eyes.

 

“I’m not programmed to think about such things, let alone act upon them even if I did.” Connor said it so flatly.

 

“Ok then why do you need this?” Peter pointed to the limp appendage between Connor’s legs.

 

Connor tilted his head for a moment, almost birdlike. “Aesthetics.”

 

Peter laughed. “Alright, well what about feelings? How do you feel about your partner? I know you just met them, but what were your first thoughts?”

 

This line of questioning had caught Connor by surprise. He had never considered his first impression of Lt. Anderson cause it was not pertinent to the case, but now that the current case was over, Connor could really assess her. “When I first saw her she was a bit disheveled. She was probably drinking for quit a while or at least in the bar for some time. She has gray hairs, but she also has high levels of stress. There was something else there, but she seems to have some kind of front put up. I get that she doesn’t like androids, but for what reason I don’t know. She seems to dislike me, but I’ve managed to raise her attitude towards me slightly.”

 

“So she doesn’t like you. Do you want her to?”

Peter stopped his examination and stood in front of Connor. 

 

“Her liking me would make working with her easier.” 

 

“Ok final question, is she attractive?” Connor paused as his processor flipped though images that Connor saved in his memory bank of Anderson. When he first saw her, the look on her face when he ignored her command to stay in the car, the thoughtful expressions she had when he was going over what happened to the victim, her displeased look at his comment about never being able to fail, the immediate surprise of his apology, the way her hair fell into her blue eyes in the interrogation room, her determined expression when she pulled Gavin off him, and the uncertainty of what to say to him as they were parting at the station. All the subtle inflections in her voice when she spoke to him and all the slight emotions that flashed across her face, threatening to betray something she was hiding. Connor hadn’t realized he had stored such information about Anderson in such a short time. Why had he even done so? Before he could even begin to process it, Peter laughed. “Connor I was just kidding. I know you don’t care about such things. Not in your programming.” Peter pat him on the arm. “You can put your clothes back on and send your report.”

 

Peter turned back to the arm on the other table and set about tinkering with it. Connor needed to get rid of the images and information he stored about Anderson. It wasn’t necessary to them working together. His LED flickered to yellow when tried to delete it. (Maybe this will be useful in getting her to be more cooperative. If I know more about her, she may be more friendly. This will lead to working better together, thus making our job easier.) Connor was able to convince himself that keeping the data would help accomplish his sub mission. He moved the information to a file and labeled it important. The LED in his temple went back to a calming blue.

 

Connor slid off the table and proceeded to put his clothes back on. When he was finished he reactivated his skin. “I’ll just stand over here and send my report.” Connor stood by a blank android. Out of curiosity he did a scan on it and revealed that it was another RK800. His LED flickered to yellow for a split second before returning to blue. Something about this inactivated version of himself was (off putting?) Indescribable. Non the less, he set that aside and closed his eyes and started his report.


End file.
